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Lot Essay
This lot is offered together with a certificate from Mrs. Laure Tinel, the artist's granddaughter.
Paul Dupré-Lafon trained as an architect but worked primarily as an interior designer. Originally from Marseille, it took him only five years to establish himself in Paris and by the late 1920s he was creating entire interiors for wealthy clientèle including the bankers Dreyfus and Rothschild. He has been described as ‘décorateur des millionaires’ (a designer for the billionaires) (T. Couvrat-Desvergnes, Paul Dupré-Lafon, Décorateur des Millionnaires, Paris, 1990) and for forty years worked as such. He was a reserved man preferring not to show his designs in exhibitions, but instead concentrating all his energy on his projects.
His furniture combined the functionality of modernist design with the luxury of art deco, without it becoming a dehumanized version of modernism or an over-exuberant expression of art deco. It was critical to Dupré-Lafon that his furniture should not only be works of art but also should serve its users and be practical. Creating impressive forms that communicate a sense of power and grandeur through their simplicity, curves and angles filled him with fascination. His furniture was to be clear in form and intended to demonstrate different aspects of its utility from various view-points.
Of simple form and with strong spatial presence, the present console table fluently illustrates Dupré-Lafon’s skills, uniting function with sumptuous materials and accented by subtle accents of wood and brass to deliver a sumptuous work, appropriate for his cultivated clientèle.
Paul Dupré-Lafon trained as an architect but worked primarily as an interior designer. Originally from Marseille, it took him only five years to establish himself in Paris and by the late 1920s he was creating entire interiors for wealthy clientèle including the bankers Dreyfus and Rothschild. He has been described as ‘décorateur des millionaires’ (a designer for the billionaires) (T. Couvrat-Desvergnes, Paul Dupré-Lafon, Décorateur des Millionnaires, Paris, 1990) and for forty years worked as such. He was a reserved man preferring not to show his designs in exhibitions, but instead concentrating all his energy on his projects.
His furniture combined the functionality of modernist design with the luxury of art deco, without it becoming a dehumanized version of modernism or an over-exuberant expression of art deco. It was critical to Dupré-Lafon that his furniture should not only be works of art but also should serve its users and be practical. Creating impressive forms that communicate a sense of power and grandeur through their simplicity, curves and angles filled him with fascination. His furniture was to be clear in form and intended to demonstrate different aspects of its utility from various view-points.
Of simple form and with strong spatial presence, the present console table fluently illustrates Dupré-Lafon’s skills, uniting function with sumptuous materials and accented by subtle accents of wood and brass to deliver a sumptuous work, appropriate for his cultivated clientèle.